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UNIT 6. MEDIA ISSUES Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to pick out the latter. Thomas Jefferson, American president (1801-1809) Theories of the Press Since the sixteenth century, scholars and philosophers have try to describe the relationship betwixt the government and the mass media and its implications with the go steady to freedom and defend. Over the years, non-homogeneous theories of the press have genuine to articulate and explain this relationship. All theories, however, fall somewhere between two isms that reflect polar opposites in the amount of control the government exerts over the media authoritarianism and libertarianism. Current theories of the press correct modifications of these two fundamental principles. The authoritarian theory arose in 16th century England about the same time as the cornerstone of the printing press in that country. Under the authoritarian theory, the prevailing belief was that the ruling elite should guide the masses, whose intellectual readiness was held in low esteem.

Public dissent and criticism were considered insidious to both the government and the people and were not tolerated. Authoritarians used various devices to force compliance of the press, including licensing, censorship of material before publication, the granting of undivided printing rights to favoured elements of the press, and the swift, harsh punishment of government critics. The libertarian theory is directly opposed to authoritarianism. Libertarians assume that human being are demythologised and capable of making their own decisions and that governments exist to serve the individual. Libertarians moot that the common citizen has a right to hear all sides of an do to distinguish truth from falsehood. Since any government restriction on the expression of ideas infringes upon the... If you want to get a full essay, hostel it on our website: Orderessay

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